InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Void ❯ Pre-battle Banter ( Chapter 4 )

A/N: Hey everyone.

Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out... I can’t think lately... minds completely shot. Plus, my muses are all worn out and dead at the moment. >_<

Anyway, I managed to get this chapter out, which I think is longer than some of the other chapters, and it has Sess in it, so that’s a good thing. Hopefully everyone enjoys it. ^_^

-This is Inu4ever - Lol, actually this whole plot wasn’t originally my idea. The Midoriko/Naraku pairing comes from Punishment of the Inu (aka Tryst) and she deserves all the credit for that. I’m just writing her challenge. ^_^ Anyway, hopefully this chapter is just as twisted/angst-filled/shocking at time as the other chapters! And, of course, that you enjoy it. ^_^

-Punishment of the Inu - Hm. I suppose I am aren’t I? Never really considered it before. But if you don’t have a cliff-hanger, then you’ve just got an ending that doesn’t necessarily carry the person over into the next chapter... cliffhangers are definitely better for keeping people interested. ^_^ -- Gomen, Sess wasn’t in the last chapter, He’s in this chapter though! A lot. -- I’m glad that I’ve got you curious and thinking-- it’s always great to know I can keep the challenger on their toes! ^_^ Though then again I really have just as little an idea where this is going as you do. ^_^ Still, hopefully it’ll be an interesting and fun trip getting there. ^_^   ~*~   Pre-Battle Banter

Sesshomaru frowned, his lips turning down imperceptibly as he titled his head lightly, turning to face the wind, tasting it’s scent.

The sun had only just risen, painting the ground with fire and dying the sky blood-red.

It seemed that the earth was well aware of and perfectly ready for the blood that would undoubtedly be spilt today.

The scent that the wind carried to him was not, in it’s entirety, one he was familiar with. But there were some aspects-- some very unique differences to it that set it apart-- and he knew they could only belong to one creature on this earth. Naraku.

However, this scent was not strong enough to be the actual youkai himself-- was merely a diluted sample of Naraku’s scent, being carried over another, more powerful scent that was similar, yet at the same time entirely different, which could only mean that this was one of the youkai’s puppets.

Or, better still, the demon’s hanyou bastard son.

He had never personally met the boy, but rumours of his doings and blood-thirsty killings spread like wild-fire across the land.

Sesshomaru himself had no real concerns about it, but the boy had already overcome two of his smaller armies (despite the fact that they had not been there to attack him) and was beginning to make himself known as a potential threat.

And Sesshomaru knew enough about the boy to understand that underestimating him was not an option.

Not that underestimation was ever an option, but sometimes it was a risk or game that could be played without there being much concern over the effects of the consequences.

However, he did not think that this was one of those times.

The wind changed directions suddenly, twisting and pulling his hair about his face (though he made no move to brush it away), making a pitiful attempt to force him into movement, while at the same time covering itself with some of his own scent in the process. Sesshomaru watched with disinterest as the wind continued to blow around him, knowing it would only be a matter of moments before his scent reached the half-breed and lead him to him.

And he would be ready when he did.

The rebellious breeze did indeed carry the tai-youkai’s scent to the hanyou, and Inuyasha (who had been wandering rather aimlessly before-- only vaguely following traces of what he thought to be Sesshomaru’s scent) froze in his tracks, near-certain of who that unmistakable scent that the wind now bore belonged to.

Inuyasha’s whole body began to tense with the familiar surge of adrenaline as he turned in the direction the wind came from and began racing toward the owner of that scent.

Before he hadn’t been moving very fast because the sooner he found Sesshomaru, the sooner he went home. But now that he had actually located his enemy, he knew that the sluggish actions he had been using before would not be acceptable. He needed to be on full alert with this youkai, because, according to his father (and several other people-- his mother included) Sesshomaru was one of the strongest beings to ever exist. Some said that his strength was so great that, despite his awesome demonic power, he could even thwart the arrow of some of the strongest miko’s. His mother had not had anything to say about that, instead falling into one of her characteristic silences that annoyed Inuyasha so much because they left way too much time to think.

Thinking wasn’t any good.

Thinking lead to wishing and wishing lead to hoping and hoping lead to let downs, and let downs lead to more internal agony and loathing, and those, in turn, eventually lead to madness.

No, he didn’t like thinking.

It gave him way too much time to contemplate the world outside his miasmic prison and what life would be like if he had had different parents. Or a different father at least.

Inuyasha scowled slightly at his own rebellious thoughts and shook his head, moving with an inhuman speed toward the youkai, while silently wondering why Sesshomaru had made no move to come after him yet.

‘Doesn’t matter.’ He told himself reprimandingly. ‘You’re only here to fight him. Nothing more. What does it matter whether he comes and finds you or not? One way or another you’re fighting him, and one of you is going down, so it doesn’t matter anyway.’

Still, a strange feeling of unease had settled over him, and that feeling that something big was about to happen seemed only to intensify as it rose once more to the forefront of him-- growing stronger and stronger with every step he took toward the taiyoukai until, at last, he finally came to a stop in front of who could only be Sesshomaru.

And Inuyasha felt his breath catch in his throat as he stared at his opponent with wide-eyes.

Because the being standing before him now... could not be real.

His hair was silver-white like the moon, and hung down his back in silken sheets, reaching a few inches past his hips. His eyes were an icy gold-- like the sun when it was buried beneath winters frozen air-- holding the promise of a power too great to imagine should it ever decide to break through it’s ice barrier.

He was a good few inches taller than Inuyasha, and stool with a regal air about him that could only belong to the most aristocratic of demon society. He was the very epitome of all that a youkai ever should be, and he stood before Inuyasha as a pale rival of the moon in his beauty-- further enhancing the facts as to exactly why youkai thought themselves so superior to hanyou. Yet, despite all that, Inuyasha could not help but notice that there were some similarities that passed between them. Not a lot, but big enough ones to certainly catch a person’s attention enough to make comparisons... and he felt almost certain that, should some stranger or demon who had never heard of them before happened upon them now... they could easily mistake them for brother’s.

It wouldn’t be too difficult, after all.

They both had long silver hair and golden eyes, though both of those things were darker on Inuyasha, and, of course, the hanyou did not possess the elegantly pointed ears, or the symbolic crimson stripes and cobalt crescent moon that so obviously gave away the creature before him as demon. But there were minor differences at best, and they were far out shadowed by the magnitude of their few but great similarities.

Apparently, however, Sesshomaru didn’t seem to be thinking along the same lines as him, his golden eyes trailing over the hanyou’s body in glacier scrutiny as he took in his rogue and battle-tarnished appearance.

This is the one he was supposed to fight? This?

The hanyou’s silver hair hung in a wild curtain down his back, his bangs falling hazordously down to shadow his eyes slightly, which were a shade of gold turned amber by whatever horrid memories had chosen to remain behind to forever haunt their depths.

His stance was defensive-- experienced, but not trained properly for battle-- and the fool creature had the audacity to appear before him in nothing more than a crimson hakama and haori-- both of which reeked of past blood spilt (the most of which was not the hanyou’s own) as well as miasma and the traces of Naraku that clung to them. His sword hung passively, still sheathed at his side, and the boy made absolutely no move to grab it.

To put the final bit of icing on this particularly distasteful cake, atop the hanyou’s head, poking out through the midst of the snowy disaster area that was his hair, resided two furry, silver dog-ears, that drooped slightly to either side, but still seemed to be twitching slightly toward any and every sound they heard (which were a great many judging by the rate they were moving), the final clincher to reveal once and for all to everyone that he was, indeed, a half-demon.

Sesshomaru stared in near-open disdain at the creature before him that bore such a similar yet brazenly different appearance to his own, silently musing over how it was possible for the boy to look so much like him, yet be so obviously different.

After giving the creature a quick, cold, once-over, never letting his emotions (or anything else for that matter) show in his face, he turned slowly to face the half-breed, his eyes coming up to lock with the golden ones that stared so openly back at him.

Clearly the boy had no real training or schooling in battle at all.

Inuyasha was so captivated by the youkai’s slow, deliberate yet graceful movements, he barely registered the fact that this... breath-taking demon was the one he had come here to fight. This was his enemy, and a potential threat to his life. They had come here to kill each other. He could not let his guard down. He could not dare to care or be interested in this being, even in the smallest bit.

Hardening his resolve, Inuyasha tensed up again slightly, looking up to meet the youkai’s gaze and, for several seconds, that was all that they did.

Then Sesshomaru spoke.

‘You are Inuyasha, hanyou son of Naraku, are you not?’ He asked, putting the barest of emphasis on the word “hanyou” but knowing it would be effective anyway, despite the fact that the rest of his voice maintained it’s usual monotone. And Inuyasha was so busy focusing in on the low, but strangely flowing voice he was only just hearing for the first time, that he barely registered the question that had wrapped itself around it.

Mentally shaking himself for his own stupidity and distractibility, Inuyasha glared in an almost defiant manner (though exactly what he was defying was not obvious to either youkai or hanyou) back at the Inu Lord.

‘How exactly do you figure that to be any of your business?’ Inuyasha asked carefully, tauntingly. Every demon he had ever met reacted differently to different taunts or voice tones, and he wanted to see how this one would. However, Sesshomaru was no fool and was also experienced in these sorts of games. He revealed nothing, did nothing, save for stare coldly back at the audacious boy before him.

Again silence fell between them, but it only lasted a moment before Sesshomaru decided enough was enough and spoke again.

‘I have business with a half-breed by the name of Inuyasha.’ We all he said, and Inuyasha frowned slightly, already tiring of the game.

He had no patience for this.

He was a “Take-action” kind of guy, not a “stand around and see who can out-think the other the best” kind of guy.

And all he wanted was to bathe his sword in this demon’s blood-- prove to him and everyone that he was not the utterly worthless hanyou they thought him to be, and then get home before Naraku missed him and deemed it time to give him some sort of punishment.

But it seemed as though fate was not on his side this time, and things just weren’t going to be as simple as that.

Deciding that he wanted to avoid the youkai’s question (as well as another silent pointless staring match) he quickly shot back with one of his own.

‘Are you the demon Sesshomaru from the West?’ He asked, blatantly leaving off a title of any sort (though the youkai clearly deserved one) just to see how he would react to it.

Sesshomrau’s reaction was, of course, not to react.

He stared icily at the red and white figure before him, feeling an emotion dangerously close to amusement rush through him at the boy’s pathetic attempts at pre-battle banter. He raised on silken eyebrow at the hanyou-- at the very tone in which the boy had spoken. The half-breed was clearly indicating that he wanted to fight, and, while Sesshomaru had suspected that much when he had first scented the hanyou on the wind, it was nonetheless amusing to him.

‘Do you really intend to take this Sesshomaru on?’ He asked, letting some of his amusement leaking into his voice and watching as the hanyou stared at him a moment with something akin to disbelief reflecting in his eyes.

‘That depends.’ The hanyou said slowly, a small smirk pulling at his lips that he wasn’t really feeling but had grown accustomed to wearing whenever he was in battle. ‘If “this” Sesshomaru is the one I am searching for, then yeah. Not only do I plan to take you on, dog, but I plan to kill you as well.’

Sesshomaru gave a small, barely-there smirk that he doubted the hanyou could detect as he stared down at him. ‘We shall see.’ He said, not bothering to raise his hand (which was already seeping poison from beneath the nails).

He saw Inuyasha tense, his hand flying to hover over the hilt of his own sword as the strange but not entirely foreign scent of venom reached his nose, and another twinge of “amusement” flitted through Sesshomaru.

It hardly mattered, after all-- the very attempt at battling him, even with a katana, was ludicrous.

Placing his own strength and skills to the side, he had the sword, Tokijin. And there was not a single blade in all the world that could match the strength of that blood-thirsty sword that so lusted for the death of all it came across.

Well, no sword save one.

But there was no way the hanyou could possess that blade. It had been missing for nearly half a century, and if he had not found it, then there was no way the hanyou could have come across it. Not that he could have wielded it anyway. Such immense power as that sword possessed was not to be handled or wielded by someone as weak and unworthy as this pathetic half-breed.

It was meant to be wielded by him.

‘Draw your sword then, half-breed.’ He said, raising his hand, all but two fingers curling into a fist with a threatening crack as he stared down his opponent. ‘Come after me.’

Inuyasha smirked. The demon Lord had no idea what he was getting himself into.

‘Just remember, you asked for it.’ He said, still smirking, before closing his hand around the hilt of his sword and drawing it swiftly from it’s sheath, ringing and shining gold as it changed-- the blade growing wider, smoother, longer and sharper, curving upwards at the end as it took on it’s true form as a deadly fang-- the blade still ringing faintly as it continued it’s never ending vibrating and pulsing.

Only now it was stronger than it had ever been before and... different somehow.

As though the blade was not calling out to him, but to... someone else.

Sesshomaru felt his eyes widen a small amount, barely enough to be noticeable, as he gazed at the glinting fang the half-demon now held. Gazed at it, and recognised it.

Tetsusaiga.

It had to be.

No other blade possessed the power that this one did. No other blade could transform like that, or give off that distinct ring when drawn from it’s sheath. No other blade emmanated such a strong aura that was both youkai and human.

No other sword had he ever desired as much.

And now here it was, the very source of his search (obsession some might call it) across the lands-- the blade he had been trying to hunt down for nearly fifty years.

Tetsusaiga.

And it was in the hands of that filthy half-breed whelp! A filthy half-breed whelp who had the audacity to brandish the stolen sword at him as though the weapon actually belonged to him.

But that left one question above all the other’s unanswered: How did Inuyasha get hold of it?

Sesshomaru stood frozen to the spot, staring at the blade, watching and practically feeling each pulse that ran through it while silently contemplating this.

He barely noticed at first when at his side, as if in answer to the other katana’s call, Tenseiga began to pulse as well. ~*~  

Glossary

Youkai - Demon

Hanyou - Half-Demon

Miko - Priestess

Taiyoukai - Great Demon

Hakama - Pants (in a sense)

Haori - A type of Japanese coat

Katana - Sword (I’m pretty sure this only applies to a sword that’s longer than 26(?) inches or something like that though, so...) ~*~  

A/N: Well that’s the chapter, and I’ve run out of energy, so excuse me while I go pass out on the floor....